Once they had entered the orphanage, Sonic wagged his tail excitedly and clung onto Shadow's arm as they followed behind several other couples, who were also looking to adopt a child.
The interior of the orphanage was beautifully decorated, and laid out in such a way that every room had children within different age groups, and a number of care workers tending to their needs; babies in one room, toddlers in another, and pre-school aged children in another.
Many of the mobian couples immediately headed for the toddler and pre-school rooms, having already decided on the type of child that they were looking for.
Sonic and Shadow, however, headed straight for the baby room, and the blue blur immediately began to make cooey baby noises as he looked down at all of the cute pudgey-faced mobian infants, laying in their cots.
"Aww, Shads~! Look how cute they all are~!"
The black blur chuckled as he followed Sonic and looked down at the little mobian infants, laying in their cots.
Many cooing, squeaking and giggling sounds soon filled the room as the infants noticed the two hedgehogs looking down at them.
Sonic continued to make cooing sounds and pull funny faces at each of the mobian babies as he walked past them, wagging his tail happily as he did so.
Shadow chuckled and watched happily as Sonic picked up and cuddled with each of the babies.
Sonic's definitely going to be a good father...
As Sonic lays the baby back into its crib, he turns to Shadow with a big smile.
"Shadow? Can we adopt all of them? Pleaseeee~?"
The black blur lets out a small chuckle as he hugs Sonic from behind.
"I'm sorry, darling, but we only have space for one..."
Sonic pouts playfully as he continues to look around.
After cuddling with many of the babies, Sonic soon noticed two adorable twin hedgehoglets, one boy and one girl, and picked them both up before holding them in his arms. The twins giggled and reached up to Sonic's head as they attempted to grab his ears.
The blue blur chuckled as he held the twins up to his head.
"Hehe, easy there, cuties~! My ears are ticklish~"
Shadow chuckled as he looked at the form on the side of their cot before looking up at Sonic.
"They're named Charlie and Holly~"
As the twins played with Sonic's ears, Shadow noticed a little female mobian smiling up at him and he gently caressed her muzzle, causing her to giggle.
A soft smile appeared across Shadow's muzzle as he gently tickled the infant's belly, causing her to giggle even more.
"Hello, little one~ What's your name?"
The little infant cooed and tilted her head to the side, as she noticed Sonic walking over to her and looking at a form on the side of her cot.
"It says here that her name's Sasha... that's a really cute name~"
As Sonic looked down at the little girl, the twins let out a small whining sound and begin to slightly tug on his ear, in order to get the blue blur's attention.
"Hehe, don't worry, I know you're both still there~"
Shadow smiles as he gently picks up one of the twins from Sonic's ear and holds him in his arms.
"You both seem to be little troublemakers, eh~?"
The twins giggled as Sonic reached his arms up to his ear and brought the female twin down, before holding her in his arms.
"I think they're a perfect fit for us then, Shads~"
Shadow chuckled as he laid the male twin back into his cot, watching as Sonic does the same with the female twin.
"Easy there, Sonic... we still have quite a few other places to visit first~"
Sonic grinned as he rubbed his nose with his finger.
"Heh, I know, Shads~"
------------------------------
After looking around for a bit longer, the hedgehogs soon said their goodbyes to the infants, and the staff of the orphanage, before heading to a nearby diner for lunch.
Before Sonic was even able to pick up the menu, Shadow smirked in his direction as he rested his chin in his palm.
"Let me guess... chili dogs~?"
Sonic grinned as he wagged his tail and looked up at Shadow.
"Of course~! They do the best ones here, Shads... aside from yours, of course~"
Shadow chuckled as he took a sip of his drink before hearing his phone buzzing in his pocket. He quickly took it out and looked at the number before answering it.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Shadow Miller?"
"Speaking."
Sonic looked up at Shadow with a curious expression as he could, very slightly, hear the voice coming from his boyfriend's phone.
"This is Lucy from the Station Square adoption services. I believe that you are looking for a child for yourself and a loved one?"
"Yes, preferably a baby."
"I understand. Well, we have several here available for adoption and we would love for you and your partner to come and take a look."
"Excellent, we would love to."
"Perfect! We can book an appointment for you and your partner, but, would it be okay for me to speak to your partner?"
"Of course. I'll hand the phone over now..."
Shadow smiled as he handed the phone over to Sonic.
"It's the adoption agency, they want to talk to you."
Sonic wagged his tail excitedly as he took the phone and happily greeted the person on the phone.
"Hi, there~! This is Shadow's partner~"
"Ah, hello there. Apologies, but is this Shadow Miller's wife?"
"Eh? Well, I'm his boyfriend, but I'm hoping to be his husband when the time comes~"
"I see. Sir, I hope you don't mind me saying, but, I think there must have been a mistake. I was told that Shadow had a wife."
Sonic lowered his ears as he leaned forward slightly and continued to speak.
"W-what...? No, he doesn't. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I'm afraid that our agency only accepts male and female couples, not those of the same sex."
Shadow soon noticed Sonic's facial expression change and gently placed his hand on top of his, in an attempt to calm him down.
"What?! But, no-one told us this!"
"They didn't...? I really must apologise, I was under the impression that the agency had told you this."
"No, they didn't..."
"I am very sorry, but I am afraid that we cannot proceed with this adoption."
"... okay, I understand."
As the agent hung up on Sonic, the blue blur slowly, and shakily, placed the phone back onto the table and looked up at Shadow with a tearful expression.
"Sonic..? What's wrong?"
The blue blur shakily stood up from his chair as he leaned against it and tried to stop himself from crying.
"W-we can't... w-we're not..."
Shadow lowered his ears as he stood up from his chair and worriedly wrapped his arms around the blue blur, gently rubbing his back.
"What happened, Sonic?"
"T-they won't accept us... t-they only accept straight couples."
Shadow froze as he removed his hand from Sonic's back and gritted his teeth in anger.
"What?! Why didn't they tell us this before?!"
The restaurant soon went silent as Shadow had, unknowingly, raised his voice and was the cause of the sudden silence.
He soon cleared his throat and gently held onto Sonic's hand as the restaurant soon filled with noise again.
"I apologise, my love, I didn't mean to raise my voice like that."
Sonic let out a sniffle as he gently placed his hand on top of Shadow's.
"W-what do we do now? Will we still be able to adopt a baby..?"
Shadow gently wrapped an arm around Sonic's shoulders as he pulled him into a cuddle.
"Don't worry, my love, there are still many other adoption agencies that we can get into contact with. One of them is bound to accept us..."
The blue blur let out a small sniffle as he turned to face Shadow and leaned his head against his chest.
"Shh, my love... we will find a way to do this."
Shadow gently wrapped his arms around Sonic and rubbed his back as he continued to sniffle and let out small sobs every now and then.
